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BOOK RECOMMENDATION: Realizing Genjokoan (Shohaku Okamura)

Dear All,

I would like to offer a hearty recommendation to a book that came out last year by Shohaku Okumura (the wonderful teacher/priest/scholar/translator/practitioner who has also been the translator and guiding hand for Uchiyama Roshi's wonderful books such as "Opening the Hand of Thought" and so many others). This new book may be the best "say it straight" introduction to Dogen-think (and non-think) out there ...

It certainly continues in much the same style, and with the same clarity, as many of the other Uchiyama-Okumura books such as "Opening the Hand of Thought" and "From The Zen Kitchen To Enlightenment: Refining Your Life (a commentary on Tenzo Kyokun)"

I took my timeless time with it (one reason that I am only getting to this recommendation today!) It certainly is a book to digest in small bits, but written in a way of great ease and clarity in both words and insight. The True Dharma Eye ... yet very gentle on the reader's eyes.

Re: BOOK RECOMMENDATION: Realizing Genjokoan (Shohaku Okamura)

Just got this in the mail earlier today. I'm in the middle of chapter 3 now. Dogen certainly isn't light reading, but already this book really sheds a lot of light on his thought (or non-thought!). Very clear writing... Thank you for the recommendation, Jundo!

DOGEN'S GENJOKOAN: THREE COMMENTARIES is magnificent. The last commentary is Uchuyama-roshi's and that is an eye openner for the Genjokoan and Dogen in general. For my inexperienced and quite raw mind it was spiritual yoga.
Enjoy. In gassho,
Ed B

"Know that the practice of zazen is the complete path of buddha-dharma and nothing can be compared to it....it is not the practice of one or two buddhas but all the buddha ancestors practice this way."
Dogen zenji in Bendowa

DOGEN'S GENJOKOAN: THREE COMMENTARIES is magnificent. The last commentary is Uchuyama-roshi's and that is an eye openner for the Genjokoan and Dogen in general. For my inexperienced and quite raw mind it was spiritual yoga.
Enjoy. In gassho,
Ed B

Thank you Ed. Even though I am still waiting for its arrival and have not read it yet, I will add it to our Recommend Books list based on who is involved with it along.

I just started my second reading through this excellent book. digesting slowly. I recently found "modern interpretations" of several of the fascicles, including Genjokoan, by Michael Luetchford of Dogen Sangha UK, http://www.dogensangha.org.uk, which I feel helped clarify them to my understanding but can't vouch for their fidelity to Dogen's thought . is anyone else familiar with these "interpretations", or have an opinion of them? thanks. -O

Michael's translation is a modern language rendering, and very impressionistic, filled with some particular ways of expressing some things that Nishijima Roshi favored (such as his use of terms like subject, object, beyond subject-object and reality). I would not call it a literal translation, although it is powerful and wonderful itself. Taigu, any impressions?

It is interesting to read it in comparison of some of the several other translations out their. The Nishijima-Cross translation is prized for precise, detailed accuracy to the original by Dogen, while the Tanahashi version is often described as the most readable while capturing the poetic aspects of Dogen's writing, although sometimes needing to take some liberties (Nishijima-Cross is so precise that it is sometimes not the most beautiful to read).

I also give you Okamura-roshi last book LIVING BY BOW. Like REALIZING GENJOKOAN it shows his lovingkindness and scholarship in a very readable narrative.
He explains the verses of both meals and okesa, their origins and meanings. The section on orioky and food sustenance is a lesson in humility. We indeed are sustained by each other and food is magical, a gift to be deeply appreciated.
Shohaku Okamura was disciple of Uchiyama-roshi. The plum did not fall far from the three.
I am at the section on the HEART SUTRA, it has me feeling grateful to have found this path.
Between the Gene Reeves LOTUS SUTRA and STORIES, and rohi's works I am complete for a long time book wise.
In gassho,

"Know that the practice of zazen is the complete path of buddha-dharma and nothing can be compared to it....it is not the practice of one or two buddhas but all the buddha ancestors practice this way."
Dogen zenji in Bendowa

OK, I have downloaded Realizing Genjokoan on my reader and will give it a go, with a 5 Buddha rating how can one go wrong? Thanks for the recommendation.
Gassho, Jakudo Hinton.

Gassho, Shawn Jakudo Hinton
It all begins when we say, “I”. Everything that follows is illusion.
"Even to speak the word Buddha is dragging in the mud soaking wet; Even to say the word Zen is a total embarrassment."
寂道

Another book I will recommend sight unseen based on the folks involved (although I have it on order) ...

Receiving the Marrow: Teachings on Dogen by Soto Zen Women Priests

Receiving the Marrow is the first book that expresses Dogen's teaching as experienced and lived by Western Soto Zen women teachers. Dogen Zenji(1200-1253) supported equality and respect for women Zen teachers from a Buddhist perspective.He did so through his understanding of the equality of Buddha nature shared by all beings. Historically, Japanese Soto Zen women have referred to Dogen's teachings as a touchstone for finding their place and empowerment within the Soto Zen tradition that he founded. Now Western women are sharing their appreciation of Dogen and enjoying the same broad and brilliant support that he offered for all practitioners.Receiving the Marrow's essays on Dogen are enjoyable,elucidating, accessible and a wonderful new presentation on chapters from Dogen's Shobogenzo. Each woman relates personally and authentically to Dogen's teaching.

Another book I will recommend sight unseen based on the folks involved (although I have it on order) ...

Receiving the Marrow: Teachings on Dogen by Soto Zen Women Priests

Receiving the Marrow is the first book that expresses Dogen's teaching as experienced and lived by Western Soto Zen women teachers. Dogen Zenji(1200-1253) supported equality and respect for women Zen teachers from a Buddhist perspective.He did so through his understanding of the equality of Buddha nature shared by all beings. Historically, Japanese Soto Zen women have referred to Dogen's teachings as a touchstone for finding their place and empowerment within the Soto Zen tradition that he founded. Now Western women are sharing their appreciation of Dogen and enjoying the same broad and brolliant support that he offered for all practitioners.Receiving the Marrow's essays on Dogen are enjoyable,elucidating, accessible and a wonderful new presentation on chapters from Dogen's Shobogenzo. Each woman relates personally and authentically to Dogen's teaching.

Nearly eight hundred years ago, the celebrated Japanese Zen master Dogen gave
a remarkable sermon revealing his egalitarian attitude toward women, an
attitude reflected in both his teachings and writings. With the publication of
Receiving the Marrow, a collection of essays edited by Eido Frances Carney, eleven
accomplished Zen women priests share their understanding of Dogen’s teachings,
as well as their appreciation.

In her introduction, Carney, the founding abbess and teacher at the Olympia Zen
Center in Washington, lauds Soto Zen’s “egalitarian founder” for setting “the stage
for women to come forward and stand as equals in a clerical world that had rejected
them as full members of the institution.” Indeed, from his first monastery in Kyoto
to his years at Eiheiji temple in the remote mountains, evidence suggests Dogen
supported both nuns and female lay practitioners. This favorable attitude toward
women is most evident in Dogen’s sermon
Raihaitokuzui (Receiving the Marrow
and Bowing), from which this new
book takes its title.

In the sermon, Dogen suggests that if
a monk recognizes an awakened female
teacher and bows to her in homage, he
demonstrates his “excellence as a student.”
Here Dogen also recalls how two
Chinese nuns, Moshan and Miaoxin,
otherwise little known in Zen lore,
taught a number of male monastics and
outsmarted them in Zen dialogues.

What caused Dogen to take such a
bold stance in medieval Japan, a time
when the role of women was suppressed
both inside and outside Buddhist temples?
One rationale suggests he had
observed a more open-minded approach
toward women in mainland China and
wished to foster the same in his own
movement. Another possibility is that
like other teachers in the new wave of
Japanese Buddhist schools (including
Nichiren, Shinran, and Eizon), Dogen
wanted to appeal to a wider audience.
A third explanation holds that Dogen,
who had renounced his aristocratic
background to pursue the dharma,
remained committed to the doctrine of
nonduality in all of its manifestations.
This included supporting gender equality
and resisting any tendency to demean
or marginalize any demographic group.

In Receiving the Marrow, the female
contributors interpret the Shobogenzo
(Treasury of the True Dharma-Eye),
Dogen’s main body of writing, which
consists of sermons delivered during the
peak his career, including Raihaitokuzui.
The contributors, all priests from various
Soto Zen lineages, were born and
trained in the West, although several
also practiced for a time in Japan. The
lineages they represent include those of
prominent Japanese masters who taught
in America, such as Shunryu Suzuki,
Dainin Katagiri, Taizen Maezumi, and
Shohaku Okumura, as well as those of
their American students, including Mel
Weitsman and Bernie Glassman.

Each contributor selects one fascicle
and analyzes its key passages both in
terms of its dharmic significance and
looking at how it can be understood
in today’s world. They worked with a
variety of Dogen translations, including
those by Carl Bielefeldt, Hee-Jin Kim,
Herbert Nearman, and Kazuaki Tanahashi.
Rather than making for inconsistency,
the various translations show
how widely Dogen’s writings have been
disseminated in the past few decades
and also reveal the growing contribution
of women translators and commentators.
One, Shotai de la Rosa, is currently
translating into Spanish another crucial
Dogen text, the Eihei Koroku (Extensive
Record).

The essays are not strictly about
women; rather, they are by women.
As Carney observes, the collection is
not “a feminist treatise”; yet the book
does, indeed, tell the story of female
Soto priests, who, by following Dogen’s
teachings, find their rightful place in the
community of Buddhist teachers.

Aside from the introduction, only two
essays directly address the role of women
in Dogen’s teachings, one by Grace
Schireson on Rahaitokuzui and another
by Shosan Austin on the fascicle Shinjingakudo
(Body and Mind Study the Way).
Schireson looks at how Dogen asserted
the authenticity of female practitioners
and championed the ultimate equality of
male and female perspectives and understanding
of the dharma. Austin, on the
other hand, highlights the differences
between male and female counterparts:

Many of the traditional meditation
instructions on posture work well
in general for male bodies, but not
for female bodies. The 51 percent
of people whose pelvis and spine
are shaped one way thus receive
instructions for the 49 percent
whose pelvis and spine are shaped
another way. Women’s bodies are
not usually mirrored by the traditional
teachings.

Equality does not mean sameness,
she suggests; men and women may
need to be treated differently when it
comes to sitting practice, even if the
experience of awakening knows no such
differences.

Most of the essays in this volume
seek to capture and convey the distinctive
flavor of Dogen’s incessant wordplay,
full of psychological irony and
metaphysical contradiction. As Jan
Chozen Bays suggests, “Dogen Zenji is
at home in this world of apparent opposites.
He is a mountain goat at play in
the mountain range of paradox, happily
leaping from peak to peak, jumping
across huge chasms of apparent
contradictions.” Here, women authors
interpret Dogen’s puzzling yet thoughtprovoking
words, as men have before
them, by examining the master’s words
carefully yet creatively. This interpretive
process follows Dogen’s rhetorical
twists and turns, phrase by phrase,
showing how and why passages make
sense or perhaps can be considered
nonsensical. Like the Zen koans Dogen
frequently discusses, his writings in
Shobogenzo transcend ordinary logic
and patterns of speech in pursuit of a
higher truth.

According to Soto tradition, one must
spend at least two decades of dedicated
study in order to master the Shobogenzo
teachings and be able to confidently say
something original about their meaning.
As Carney points out, “Since many of
our Soto Zen women priests received
dharma transmission in the early 1990s,
[women] have only recently come into
[their] own as teachers.” This volume
serves the powerful purpose of enabling
female priests to present their own
interpretations of Dogen, having now
reached the point where they and other
women commentators can contribute
significantly to making Dogen more
comprehensible to the West.

Several of the essays, including Teijo
Munnich’s analysis of the fascicle Bendowa
(Discourse about How to Practice
the Way), combine careful readings of
the text with particularly insightful
interpretations. The Bendowa is the
opening section of one of the two main
versions of the Shobogenzo (the 95-fascicle
version as opposed to the 75-fascicle
one). It deals with the doctrine
of jijuyu zanmai (the samadhi of selfenjoyment).
Munnich introduces the
image of a dancer to illustrate this idea;
she talks about the majestic feeling of
the dharma dancing through the practitioner.
In another noteworthy essay,
Seisen Saunders considers the ethical
ramifications of Shoaku Makusa (Not
Doing Evils) by examining the deceptively
simple behavior of a five-year-old
child at a local playground. She talks
about how the child makes “friendship
moves” rather than “friendship
blocks.”

In another effective essay, Shinshu
Roberts explicates the notion of hereand-
now reality expressed in the Uji
(Being/Time) fascicle. Dogen points out
that one cannot ever think that the mistakes
of the past are left behind as we
charge toward the future. Because of
the unity of past, present, and future,
according to Dogen there is no sense of
arriving at an illusory endpoint. Rather,
there is only an ongoing process of
self-cultivation.

Finally, Chozen Bays makes good
sense of some of the thorniest writing
in Dogen’s world of contradictions. In
an essay about the udambara flower, the
legendary blossom symbolizing the Buddha’s
enlightenment, Bays examines the
plant species in both ancient and modern
times. Her essay is based on the
Udonge fascicle.

Despite Dogen’s egalitarian teachings,
it remains a matter of historical
debate whether monks in ancient China
or Japan would have ever bowed to
their female counterparts to receive the
marrow. However, the essays included
in this volume demonstrate that whatever
the truth of history, it is high time the men do.

--

Steven Heine is a professor of religion
and the director of Asian studies at
Florida International University. He
is the editor of Dogen: Textual and
Historical Studies and the author of the
forthcoming book Like Cats and Dogs:
Contesting the Mu Koan in Zen Buddhism,
both from Oxford University Press

LIVING BY VOW although seemingly covering other subjects, and it does, is an underlying of the Genjokoan fascicle. What isn't, really?
I do recommend LIVING just as strongly.
Roshi has found a writing voice which is a perfect vehicle for his profound understanding, and he loves to communicate it.

"Know that the practice of zazen is the complete path of buddha-dharma and nothing can be compared to it....it is not the practice of one or two buddhas but all the buddha ancestors practice this way."
Dogen zenji in Bendowa